


fortissimo

by frogstatuette



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Assumed Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, I'm almost willing to tag this as "didn't know they were dating", M/M, Mild Gore, Minor Ana Amari/Reinhardt Wilhelm, They're both damn fools basically, minor ofc/ofc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2020-12-27 08:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21115544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogstatuette/pseuds/frogstatuette
Summary: In which all of Overwatch high command, most of Blackwatch, one congress member, Angela Ziegler, and a hotel clerk think that Jesse McCree and Gabriel Reyes are dating.





	1. all of overwatch high command

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this fic is old, only partially edited, and from the days of my old AO3 account, although I never posted it. Please don't judge me too harshly for it.
> 
> Since this was originally a 5+1 (five times someone assumed they were in a relationship and one time they actually were/them getting together), I might add on the last two chapters if I ever finish them, but I've lost interest in Overwatch and I'm much happier for it. If, for some reason, one of y'all wants to take the wheel and write them, go nuts.
> 
> Updates will be once a week on Sundays until all four are up.
> 
> -
> 
> Frog from the future here: looking back at this, I laugh. I'm currently finishing chapter five, whose prompt I just changed. Sorry that it's running late, I'll try to get out in time for Sunday!

To get the record straight: Gabriel didn’t like Jesse. Uh-uh. No way.  
  
But he was keenly aware that the kid was kind of a great guy. He was funny, and not bad to look at, and forceful when he needed to be and really too old to be called a “kid” at twenty-five years of age and four years with Blackwatch under his belt. Really, what Gabriel was saying was that he didn’t like Jesse _yet_\- but he definitely could. And probably would. Especially if he stopped putting the space the word “kid” brought with it between them.  
  
To get the record very straight: Gabriel was kind of fucked.  
  
-  
  
It was Tuesday in Switzerland and Monday in Ana Amari’s time-lagged head. Planes were a great invention, sure, right up until you travelled too many timezones away to count and completely screwed over your internal clock. Because of that, Ana was still awake at the lawless hour of four am, waiting for her body to catch the memo that she’d really like to sleep.  
  
At this point, she’d given up on just drifting off putting her to sleep- she’d given up on that hours ago, along with reading autobiographies of insignificant old white men who thought they were hot shit, counting sheep, writing reports, filing reports, and watching very quiet, very dim children’s television on her screen. So there Ana was, creeping through the mostly quiet halls of the central Overwatch base whilst in her tidiest pair of pyjamas to go get some of her favourite tea in the hopes that would help her with her insomnia.  
  
The whole base seemed rather muted at this hour. Of course, not everyone was asleep: nightmares, late arrivals, work, and illnesses kept plenty of people awake. However, they mostly had the good sense to stay as quiet as they could, leaving the building a shell of its daytime self. Ana almost liked the seeming peace of it, even if she disliked the hour. She walked uninterrupted to the near by but small kitchen she shared with Jack and Reinhardt, and Gabriel, on the rare occasions he was here.  
  
To her surprise, the lights were already on when she got there. Ana saw them from a distance, her eyes picking the light out more easily in the dark. The small window was aglow and she found herself peering into it, to see who was there. Jack perhaps, on another late-night working spree? She really did need to talk to him about those, with how they affected his health-  
  
But it was not Jack in the kitchen, but Gabriel, leaning against the counter, mug of something steaming in hand. He seemed- relaxed, calm in a way Ana hadn’t seen him in a long time. As she watched, he laughed and replied to something said by an occupant of the room she hadn’t seen. There was a little table, just outside of her range of view. Whoever else was in there must have sat down there.  
  
Quietly, Ana turned the handle and let herself in, still wanting to get her tea. Gabriel turned his head to look at her and waved.  
  
“Fancy seeing you here. What are you doing up so late?” He asked, rather fondly.   
  
Ana smiled. It was good to see him, and better to see him happy. “I should ask you the same thing! It’s not common to see you two around here.”  
  
The other person was in fact Jesse, who worked mainly with Gabriel and therefore stayed closer to him than to Ana. Despite that, she had grown fond of the young man in the few times she had met him. He and Fareeha got along well, which was good news in her books.  
  
“Jus’ got back from a mission that Morrison was concerned about. We were asked to report in person,” Jesse said, leaning back casually in his chair. “Which I ain’t too thrilled about. Transit back to our usual base’s kinda a bitch from here.”  
  
“You could say that again and again and it’d ring a little truer every time,” Gabriel sighed, setting down his mug to rub at his eyes with both hands. “As nice as it is to see you, Ana, it’s a logistical nightmare to be here overnight. Or really just to be here at all.”  
  
“Technically, I don’ even have a room here, y’know,” Jesse said, then took a quick swig from his own mug. “I’m just stuck sleepin’ with him.”  
  
He jerked a thumb towards Gabriel. Ana raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Like that’s much different from your usual sleeping arrangements. I swear, do you even use your room back on base?” He snorted.  
  
“Hey, you never complained before!” Jesse laughed, throwing his hands up as if to say stop.  
  
“Brat,” Gabriel said, but he smiled as he took a sip from his drink.  
  
As Ana crossed the room to grab her tea from her cabinet, the two men continued to talk. She heard them argue over Jesse’s thieving habits when it came to clothes and slowly, as her pot began its ascent to boiling, an image came together in her mind.  
  
It had been a long time since she had last seen either of the pair. Long enough that a big change in their relationship wouldn’t be unexpected, nor would it be the first thing on their minds to tell her. With the way they were talking, they were clearly close and comfortable with each other, and with the subject matter, it sounded to Ana like they were living together. When she added all that together, well, it seemed only natural to conclude that Jesse and Gabriel were dating. Very seriously dating.  
  
Ana was glad for that, she decided as she poured water into her mug of choice. It had been a long time since her old friend had seen a chance at love and Jesse was a very nice man, if a rather young one. They had gotten along well before, Ana knew, and if that had grown into something… romantic, then who was she to judge?  
  
“Alright,” She broke the pleasant silence that had covered the room once the pair had stopped talking. “I’ll be on my way now, so be good, you two.”  
  
Jesse laughed at that- he had always been a little bit of a troublemaker.  
  
Ana strode across the room to Gabriel’s murmured goodbye. As her hand rested on the doorknob she turned her head to speak. “Oh, Gabriel? Congratulations.”  
  
She left rather rapidly after that. So rapidly, in fact, that she didn’t hear Jesse asking his commander what he was being congratulated for, nor Gabriel’s answering confusion. No, Ana was finally ready to embrace sleep and she was eager to hop to it.  
  
-  
  
Some time after that, Jesse and Gabriel and some of their friends-slash-coworkers went to a bar not far from their base. It went how most of those sorts of trips go- Gabriel didn’t drink, Jesse stayed by him for a bit and then went after whoever he’d decided to bring home for the night and forgot all about him. It left him envious, despite not having any claim to such a feeling. It tangled with his guts, squeezed at his stomach, bit him away from the inside out. But he would live. Jesse wasn’t his to feel envious of.  
  
The next morning, Gabriel woke up to Jesse asleep on his couch. He’d clearly been there for a while, and he’d clearly showered sometime before that. Atypically, there was no sleeping device that had fallen from his grasp, no papers scattered around his second-in-command’s head. Frantically, desperately, he shook Jesse’s shoulder until he woke up.  
  
“Wha- Gabe? What’s—?”  
  
“Did you ditch your one-night stand to sleep on my couch?” Gabriel could hear the mild hysteria in his tone, but he didn’t care, couldn’t bring himself to it.  
  
“Uh- yeah? Think so, anyway. I ain’t worried, he’s Overwatch too. He don’ gotta go anywhere,” Jesse was still half-asleep as he spoke, scratching his head.  
  
The envious monster in Gabriel’s chest released its hold on him. It felt- it felt magnificent. It felt like breathing again after being trapped under water for many aching minutes. (And he knew that- let’s just say that some people are nicer than others.)  
  
“Huh,” he said, like an idiot. Then, he blurted out, “Next time, just sleep in the bed. That couch cannot be good for your neck.”  
  
Jesse froze for a moment, just looking up at Gabriel. He realized that he was still in his pyjamas, but he didn’t really care. “Y’know, if, I’da known this was all it took to get into your bed-”  
  
He swatted at Jesse’s arm and he laughed, loud and clear.  
  
(A few weeks later, they went out again. It was the same, always the same.  
  
But that time, when Gabe woke up at maybe one in the morning, it was to Jesse, just showered and pyjama-clad, sliding quietly underneath the sheets and wrapping one arm around him.)  
  
-  
  
“Hey, Ana- sorry to bother you,” Jack said, running up to her. Ana turned to fully face him, letting her gaze shift at least from her work tablet. “I know how busy you get around this time of year. But I need to know about Gabriel for the holiday party. He’s too busy to check non-business stuff right now and I know you saw him last.”  
  
“Oh, yes! He wants to come, and I think he said something about his boyfriend?” Ana wasn’t sure if that had been relevant to the actual discussion of the party- Gabriel seemed to have developed the ability to bring up Jesse at any time.  
  
“His- boyfriend?” Jack faltered.  
  
“Well, I assume that Jesse is his boyfriend and not his fiancé, but honestly, with how little we talk, I wouldn’t know. But yes, he did mention bringing Jesse.”  
  
Jack looked a little shocked, but not sceptical. “Jesse, as in Jesse McCree? _That’s_ what’s that’s about?”  
  
“I don’t know what you’re referring to, but that’s Jesse,” Ana said, as impartially as she could.  
  
“Oh- wow. Some things make a lot more sense now,” Jack mumbled, more to himself than to Ana, then cleared his throat. “Alright, thank you. I’ll make sure that those details get passed along. See you later!”  
  
And with that, Jack was off again and Ana was back to her work.  
  
-  
  
“Hey, do you know why I just got an invitation to the Overwatch Christmas party?” Jesse asked, mere moments after Gabriel had heard his comm buzz.  
  
“I guess I must have mentioned it to Ana. I was planning on bringing you as a guest anyways,” Gabriel half-shrugged, not looking up from his work. “Could you send me the Goldberg file, complete with reports?”  
  
“On it,” said Jesse, and that was that.  
  
-  
  
There were many, many rumours about the Overwatch annual holiday party. Unlike most Overwatch-affiliated events, the press had never been allowed entry, it was by invitation only, and the location was kept (relatively) secret. Combine that with the fact that some of the biggest public figures of an era were all gathered there, and you had practically hand-raised a rampant rumour mill.  
  
Ana was almost sorry that some of them weren’t true. In all honesty, it was a rather tame event, kept from the public eye for privacy reasons instead of scandal prevention. (Although, there had been one year where Reinhardt had gotten into a little too much wine and- well, it safe to say that those tables weren’t meant to hold the weight of a man his size.)  
  
But this year, Jesse was there. He had caused quite a stir, arriving on Gabriel’s arm, so to speak. Of course, most of them had already met Jesse; it was simply a matter or realizing he was more relevant than he originally seemed. Especially since anyone who wanted to talk to Gabriel would soon have to realize that Jesse was practically glued to him. Ana didn’t think she’d seen them separated since they’d arrived. Even now, they stayed close together, talking and laughing in their own little bubble.  
  
She leaned over to Reinhardt. “Aren’t those two such a cute couple?”  
  
“Yes, they are! It’s good to see Gabriel happy like that again,” he remarked in his low rumble.  
  
“It is, isn’t it?” Ana smiled fondly. “I’m glad Jesse is so good for him.”  
  
A new song began playing in the background and Ana’s eyes were drawn to the dance floor. It was a waltz, which was entirely boring- unless you had the right partner.  
  
Reinhardt extended her a hand, a soft smile on his face. “Shall we, my lady?”  
  
“I do believe we shall,” she smiled, and let herself be swept into a dance.


	2. most of blackwatch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooo.... This might be five or six chapters after all? I currently have four hundred plus words of chapter five (an assassin, if any of you were wondering) and if I finish it, y'all can have it. Anyways, without further ado, chapter two!

Jesse was willing to admit his little crush on his commander. Gabe was a nice guy, deep down, with a real desire to help people and a willingness to give out second chances if you showed signs of being willing to change. Jesse was really only there because of that willingness, which didn’t really help with the crush, but oh well.  
  
But it was also more than that. After almost five years, two of which were spent as Gabriel’s right hand man, Jesse trusted him. And Gabe trusted him too, in a way that he didn’t seem to trust anyone else. They were close, both physically and mentally. And there was something about that- something so special about being together like that, that Jesse just couldn’t resist, couldn’t defend against. Couldn’t let go.  
  
Jesse wouldn’t do anything to change that.  
  
-  
  
Genji stretched his arm out as he paced around the small carrier plane. They had been landed for almost twenty minutes, but still hadn’t been allowed to disembark. Something about a quarantine going on nearby, he was pretty sure. All it meant to him was that he was stuck in this tiny, cramped space for even longer than he’d originally thought. He had no idea where Jesse or Reyes was, but he knew they couldn’t be far off. Their pilot, a young woman named Maru, had decided to stay in her cockpit.  
  
Growing restless, Genji left the small seating area in favour of the larger, emptier carrying bay. Usually, if they had brought a small car or other vehicle, this would be where that would go. More often, they ended up sprinting up the ramp here, hoping whoever was after them was off their tail. What Genji wouldn’t give to be doing that now, to be doing _anything_ other than waiting.  
  
A small noise caught his attention. _A male voice,_ he thought. It seemed to be coming from the overflow seating. Quietly, Genji crept over to the source of the noise.  
  
Hidden behind a few crates, Jesse and Reyes were sitting together. Or rather, Jesse was sitting and Reyes was lying down, his head in Jesse’s lap. Genji thought that the commander was asleep until he picked up the low muttering. He still couldn’t hear the words being spoken, but Jesse laughed quietly and ran a hand through his hair.  
  
It seemed… rather intimate. Reyes, while not unkind, was certainly never this close, physically or otherwise, with any one else Genji had seen him with. He had been previously aware that Jesse was friends, at the very least, with his commander, but it seemed he had failed to understand just how close they really were. As he watched, Jesse carefully brushed Reyes’ hair away from his forehead and murmured something to him.  
  
As stealthily as he could, Genji left the pair to be. There were some things that just weren’t meant to be meddled with.  
  
-  
  
“Go the fuck to sleep, you dumbass. You know you need it,” Jesse murmured, brushing the hair off of Gabriel’s forehead. “Stop bein’ an obstinate fool.”  
  
“Never,” Gabriel replied, but he closed his eyes, and even though he didn’t drift off, Jesse could tell that he was really trying.  
  
-  
  
Nervously, Genji stood by the door to Reyes’ office. He knew that he had been called here, at this time, by the commander himself, but despite that, he could hear a shouting match of epic proportions going on in the room. It was never a good sign when the person you were scheduled to speak with was having a fight mere minutes before you entered the room. At best, they were ill-tempered, at worst, the fight was about you.  
  
It didn’t sound like whoever was in there was talking about Genji though, which was a sliver of hope. In fact, it sounded almost like-  
  
“Jesse McCree! If I hear another word out of your mouth about how “important” the mission was, I’m sending you in for a full psych evaluation!” Reyes’ dulcet tones came bellowing through the walls, despite their supposed thickness. Intrigued, Genji began to listen more closely.  
  
He heard Jesse huff and the sound of a body hitting a chair with some force behind it. Presuming that they hadn’t come to blows, he had sat back down. “What’ve you got t’ say that’s so important then?”  
  
“If you had been _listening_, instead of repeating the same excuse like a broken record, you would know,” the commander huffed, irritated. There was a pause in the argument for a second, but eventually, he spoke again. “I told you. You’re a valuable member of Blackwatch. Keeping you alive is worth more than one mission with no major consequences for failure going askew. You’re the second in command in this department; it’s a pain in the fucking ass to replace you.”  
  
Despite the vulgarity in Reyes’ words, his tone was soft. Genji heard what he thought was Jesse sighing. “That’s a weird way t’ say ya care about me there, boss.”  
  
“Alright. I care about you, Jesse. You’re worth more to me than one stupid mission,” Reyes said, the emotion in his voice undisguised. “And if I’ve failed to convey that, then I am sincerely sorry.”  
  
“Boss-” Genji heard the scraping of a chair as Jesse spoke, but he didn’t get the chance to continue. Instead he heard a sharp hitch in his breathing and the rustle of the papers that were forever on their commander’s desk. Were they… kissing? It would make sense. The pair were certainly close enough that a romantic relationship wouldn’t be out of the question. And with Reyes’ earlier attitude…  
  
_Holy fuck_, Genji realized. _Jesse was dating the commander_.  
  
And also getting frisky with the commander, if the sounds of clothes and papers being disturbed was any indication. And- okay, that was not a sound that should be heard in a workplace. Or in the room that Genji was supposed to have a meeting in at any moment now. Not having any of that, he knocked as loudly as he could. The few benefits of having a metal hand, he supposed.  
  
“Come on in, Genji!” Reyes called after a moment. The door slid open to reveal a flustered McCree and a surprisingly composed Reyes, both in their seats. “Sorry if I made you wait. Jesse, if you want to talk more on this matter later, you know how to find me.”  
  
_Spicy_, Genji thought wryly. But Jesse only nodded and left the room.  
  
“Now,” Gabriel said, turning his focus to Genji. “We need to talk about your… sense of professionalism, shall we say, in the field.”  
  
Just for the sheer irony of that statement, he almost wished he hadn’t knocked.  
  
-  
  
“Boss-” Jesse said, standing up. Gabriel was still standing though, and he had the advantage. In the seconds it took Jesse to stand, he was able to ready a hug that caught Jesse the second he was fully upright. It was a surprise, and for a second, Jesse was tensed like a wire, ready to fight.  
  
But it didn’t last. The next moment, he let himself melt into his commander’s- his _friend’s_ tight embrace, settling his forehead on a sturdy shoulder. Slowly, Jesse moved his hands, formerly planted on the desk, up to rest cautiously on Gabriel’s back. It disrupted the papers on the desk, but neither of them seemed to care.  
  
“You could have died,” Gabriel whispered into his ear and it started to sink in that he was serious, that he cared more about Jesse than the mission. He felt Gabriel’s hands on his back begin to move, rubbing firm circles whose warmth managed to penetrate the two layers of clothing Jesse was wearing. Gabriel in general was warm, warmer than anyone else Jesse had hugged (which wasn’t a very long list, but still). He shuffled a little closer to the desk, disturbing the papers even more.  
  
Embarrassingly, Jesse felt a gasping sob work its way up his throat. He wasn’t really crying, but it was close. He felt-  
  
There came a loud knock on the door and they broke away. Jesse looked to _his commander_, because that’s what Gabriel was, goddamnit, and he gestured for Jesse to sit down, which he did. For a second, Jesse could see all the emotions on his face; there were more than he was able to count, far more than he was able to interpret, but then the next second, they were all gone, hidden behind a composed mask.  
  
“Come on in, Genji!” he hollered, and the door slid open. Indeed, Genji was behind it, mask up. “Sorry if I made you wait.”  
  
He locked eyes with him again. “Jesse, if you want to talk more on this matter later, you know how to find me.”  
  
It was Gabriel’s own way of saying that he was there for Jesse, that he had his back. He nodded, an _I know_ without using any words. Then, he left the room, closing the door behind him.  
  
-  
  
“What’s going on with-” The junior agent cut herself off as she gestured vaguely towards where Reyes and Jesse were wrestling. Or rather, where they were supposed to be wrestling. Genji wasn’t entirely sure what they were doing, but whatever it was apparently involved Jesse having his leg hooked over the commander’s back and the pair rolling around a lot. If Genji squinted really hard, it actually kind of looked like a sex position he’d tried once. Key word: once.  
  
“Just ignore those two. They are dating, and it makes them do weird things,” he advised the cadet.  
  
She looked relieved. “Oh, thank the heavens above. I was so worried I’d have to learn whatever that was!”  
  
“Those two are dating?!” asked-slash-yelled Agent Correa, who was usually much more polite about screeching in people’s ears.  
  
“Of course.”  
  
The agent still didn’t look convinced. “How do you know that?”  
  
“Look me dead in the eyes and tell me the commander would try to do whatever _that_ is with someone he wasn’t either fucking or trying to fuck,” Genji said, feeling perhaps a little smugger than he should.  
  
Correa looked over in the direction of the the pair and then immediately looked away. “Okay, maybe you have a point there. But that doesn’t mean that they’re actually, like, _together_-together.”  
  
The junior agent, whatever her name was, piped up. “Don’t they usually do the couples assignments together whenever they can?”  
  
“That doesn’t mean anything for sure, just that they’re a good tactical pair,” Correa justified. “Which has been proven multiple times to everyone.”  
  
“Haven’t you seen them coming out of Reyes’ room in the mornings, though?” he asked Correa. “Jesse spends most of his nights in there, even on nights when he brings back a one night stand from bars.”  
  
“That’s not really a point in your favour, if McCree is still bringing one night stands home,” Correa pointed out. Genji shrugged.  
  
“Sexual monogamy isn’t always an option. Believe me, I know.”  
  
“Why are we talking about monogamy and Genji’s sex life?” asked Agent Al-jinabi calmly, strolling over to swing an arm over Correa’s neck. “Oh, hey Lila.”  
  
The junior agent squeaked out something that might have passed for a hello in Martian and then swiftly left.  
  
“We were arguing over whether or not Reyes and McCree are together. I don’t think so, but Genji says they are,” Correa explained.  
  
“Oh, they’re _together_ alright. I have ten bucks riding on them being engaged, actually. Have you never been in Reyes’ office or something?” Al-jinabi frowned at her friend. “He has a framed picture of McCree on his desk. I saw him smile at it once.”  
  
“How the hell did you see that?” Correa questioned. “There’s no _way_ he just left his door open for some reason.”  
  
“And he didn’t,” she said smoothly. “He had just finished talking to me about my career options after I lost this thing-” she pointed at her prosthetic leg “- and I happened to glance back and see him looking at the photo, smiling.”  
  
“You only glanced!”  
  
“Buddy, my glancing has saved your fool ass many, many times,” Al-jinabi pointed out and Genji suppressed a smirk. “I think I deserve the respect that comes with being an accomplished glancer.”  
  
“That’s _so_ not a thing,” Correa complained, but he was smiling. “Who was your bet against? At least they see sense.”  
  
Al-jinabi blinked. “Oh no. Rhea thought they were _married_.”  
  
At that, Genji had to laugh. “Defeated yet?”  
  
“Hey!” All three of them looked over to when Reyes and Jesse had been quote-unquote “wrestling”. They had finally stopped and now Reyes was standing and he looked annoyed. “You all better get back to work and stop gossiping!”  
  
Even knowing that Reyes couldn’t possibly have heard them unless they were yelling (which they weren’t, Genji swore, he hoped), the trio broke up real fast.


	3. one congress member

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's official. This has five chapters, and possibly a sixth on the way. Hope you enjoy this installment, and see you next Sunday!

It was dark out when Jenifer took her wife’s hand and stepped cautiously out of her office. The whole building was dark now, long past closing hours. But here Jenifer was, standing as quietly as she could, waiting for someone to arrive. She didn’t know much about the agents, or officers, or whoever was going to come escort her and her tiny family to safety, except that they were supposed to arrive in a few short minutes and the code words they would tell her.  
  
The death threats had come in two days ago, in an ordinary manilla envelope. _Unless you listen to Us and stop with your attempts to push through your disgraceful legislature, We will kill your wife while you watch and then We will kill you,_ it had said in perfectly average twelve-point Times New Roman. Promptly, Jenifer had gone to security, who had made a call to someone who had called back and directed them to another wing of some organization, who had in turn pointed to what Jenifer thought was a subsection of Overwatch who were handing the group that had supposedly sent her the letter. She hadn’t really kept up with who was dealing with what, as long as she knew that she and Maya would be protected.  
  
Maya, who was holding up so well despite all the stress. Jenifer squeezed her hand a little and kissed her cheek. She turned to face Jenifer, a tiny, scared smile on her face and her brown eyes watery.  
  
“It’s okay,” She murmured to Maya. “They’ll be here soon and this will all be an awful nightmare soon, sweetheart, I promise.”  
  
Just before Maya could reply to her, they both heard the soft thump of footsteps and the low mutterings of two or three men. Jenifer heard a sharp intake of breath in her ear, but ignored it in favour of reaching for the concealed gun she had. By the time the group turned the corner to face her, she had it pointing straight at them and the determination of a woman ready to die to protect her love.  
  
“Alright, that’s one way to greet your escort team,” grumbled a man with a southern accent and a fucking _cowboy hat_ of all goddamn things on his head.  
  
“You say that like you’re unfamiliar with it,” replied the apparent leader of the little group. He then turned his focus from his team mates and onto Jenifer, who could feel her hands beginning to shake heavily. “Juliett, tango, whiskey, yankee, Victor. If you’d be so kind as to follow us, that would make all our lives a lot easier, and likely a lot longer, too.”  
  
She could physically feel the adrenaline leave her system at that. Jenifer re-hid her gun and let herself exhale for a moment before taking Maya’s hand again and nodding. The leader, who, come to think of it, looked kind of like Gabriel Reyes, nodded in return and they started to make their way through the maze of halls. The cyborg stayed at the back, Jenifer barely having noticed him in the first place, and the other two, the cowboy and the leader, took the front.  
  
At first, Jenifer found herself jumping at every little noise and clinging to Maya like she was a rag doll, both of them too scared to speak. It was terrifying, feeling like every stray shadow could spell your end. But there was only so much horror one person could take, and after a while, Jenifer just felt numbed to it. The fear was all sent below the surface.  
  
With her fear repressed, it left Jenifer with little to do. At first, she just looked around at the back alleys and side streets that they took on their way to the safe house, but it quickly grew obvious that it was largely the same thing wherever they went. Instead of that, she turned to people watching. At the hour of three am, there weren’t many people in Washington’s hidden areas, so Jenifer was left to watch the ones with her.  
  
Maya was still scared, jumping at the sound of every distant car, her beautiful features contorted into a barely calm grimace. The cyborg (Or was he a new sort of omnic? He didn’t seem to have much of his human body left) didn’t show any emotion at all beyond a slightly bored mask. He was heavily scarred and Jenifer quickly stopped looking at him.  
  
Finally, her gaze settled on the pair ahead of her. Neither of them seemed at all scared, despite their attentiveness. Instead, they seemed relaxed, shoulders bumping and quietly talking between the two of them. Jenifer couldn’t really make out what they were saying, even as close as they were. She could only pick up on occasional words and while it sounded like they were working, you certainly wouldn’t be able to tell from their body language. The leader seemed completely comfortable in the cowboy’s presence, but when she walked just a little too close, he would tense up a little unconsciously. It was a strange dynamic to see between two people who likely should have some sort of power imbalance- perhaps she had been wrong about the leader being the leader? In fact, it seemed more like very close friends and maybe even partners.  
  
Just as Jenifer was beginning to become truly calm, a gunshot rang out, just barely missing her shoulder. She flinched, her heart thudding rapidly in her chest. Before she knew what was happening, the cyborg had her pinned against the wall, metal and flesh equally strong, strong enough to keep her there. Instinctively, Jenifer panicked, flailing out against her captor. He was strong enough to keep her from moving, his body seeming to hulk over hers, covering her from view, and for one crazy moment, she thought he was going to eat her.  
  
Another gunshot pierced the night, then another. They didn’t seem to be aimed at Jenifer this time, but nor were they aimed at the cyborg, who had clearly gone crazy. Or maybe he had betrayed them, been one of the people who wanted her dead this whole time. She swallowed her desperate sobs, waited for him to make a move. Then-  
  
“All clear,” said the cowboy, his accent distinct. “There was two of ‘em, and now they’re both dead.”  
  
The cyborg pulled away, letting Jenifer go. To her left, there was Maya, trembling as the leader pulled away from where he had been holding her. Protecting her, she realized vaguely. They had been using their bodies to make sure they couldn’t be easily targeted.  
  
Didn’t mean it hadn’t been scary as fuck. Jenifer reached over and clung to Maya, letting her wife cry into her shoulder. “Oh my god,” she kept whispering, over and over. “Oh my _god_.”  
  
“We need to get moving again. We’re not far,” The leader said authoritatively and she almost agreed with him. His attention turned to the cyborg. “Deal with the bodies. Meet us at the safe house.”  
  
The cyborg nodded and left rapidly, jogging off to the left of the small street. She didn’t watch him go. Jenifer found herself and Maya being carefully shared along, the cowboy taking the cyborg’s place at the back of the tiny convoy.  
  
The last leg of the walk took forever and no time at all to her adrenaline addled brain, but before she knew it, she was sitting on the small, dusty bed of the safe house, Maya curled tearfully by her side. The cyborg was back again, folding himself and a pillow neatly into the space between a small cupboard and the wall.  
  
“Try to get some sleep,” the cowboy was telling her, and Jenifer nodded, even if she knew she wouldn’t manage any, at least for a long time. “Agent Queen,-” he pointed at the agent Jenifer had been referring to as the leader- “he’ll be on watch first, so talk to him if y’need anythin’. I’m gonna get some rest.”  
  
Dutifully, Jenifer tucked herself and Maya under the covers. She let her fingers run through her wife’s long, dark hair and tried to let it soothe her jackrabbiting heart. It didn’t help, but at least it calmed Maya down, her crying easing up and eventually, she even fell into a restless sleep.  
  
No such thing was coming to Jenifer. Her eyes stayed so peeled open that she questioned whether or not she was even blinking. All she had to do was watch Agent Queen as he carefully kept watch, checking for sounds and out of the single window. He was positioned by the door and Jenifer felt like there was something strategic about it, but her mind was running on nothing more than sheer willpower and the residue of terror, and she couldn’t work out how.  
  
She stayed awake for all of Agent Queen’s watch shift, watched him as he woke up the cyborg and as he walked near-silently over to the cowboy. Jenifer still watched as he placed a gentle hand on the cowboy’s cheek and as he smiled. She saw as he peeled his boots from his feet and carefully laid his guns down. But she turned away when he slid under the blanket and wrapped a warm, protective arm around him.  
  
Oh, she thought. They _are_ together.  
  
It was rather sweet, especially for two men who were prepared to kill only hours ago. But Jenifer supposed that you had to have a soft side for somebody.  
  
-  
  
Gabriel was tired when his shift finally ended. It wasn’t the bone-deep exhaustion that sometimes came after a near-death experience, but he could still feel sleep pulling heavily at his eyelids and warming his body like it was in a blanket cocoon. He woke up Genji, who didn’t so much wake up as he did snap fully into awareness, and then left him to go find somewhere to sleep for a few hours.  
  
Jesse was just barely awake, he discovered. Gabe hadn’t been intending to check up on him, but he had made his bed of blankets on the same side of the room that he had been planning to use.  
  
“Hey,” Jesse whispered, barely audible even as close as Gabriel was to him. “Jus’ got off watch?”  
  
“Mhm. Didn’t mean to bother you,” he whispered back. Just wanted to check if you were actually asleep.”  
  
“Will be soon, no matter what you do,” he retorted. “Feel free to join me if ya want. It’ll be easier on you.”  
  
Gabe smiled. “Alright. God knows I’d probably fuck up making my own bed.”  
  
He wouldn’t. He had making those little blanket nests practically as wired into his DNA as SEP, but sometimes, it was just easier to sleep alongside someone else. Gabriel stripped off his boots, then his shotguns and spare ammo. He left them within grabbing range but far enough from the nest-bed that there was no danger. Then, he tucked himself into Jesse’s "bed".  
  
Jesse himself was already asleep, nose just barely twitching in response to Gabriel’s intrusion into his space. They often slept together like this on missions, their bodies huddled together to keep them warm. Gabriel would never tell him, but he enjoyed the closeness that moments like this brought him, the comfort of another human’s skin against his own without a hint of violence about it.  
  
As gently as he could, Gabriel slung one arm around Jesse, holding them together. At last, he let his eyes flutter shut. Before long, he was asleep.


	4. angela ziegler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter might be a little late- the writing gods haven't looked upon me with favour lately. Still, I'm determined to finish it!

When they had radioed ahead to tell Angela and her medical team that there was a medical emergency flying in, she knew it was bad. When they mentioned that the patient’s name was Jesse McCree, she took it from ‘bad’ to ‘very bad’. No one was able to get into trouble like he was, and now it was her job to get him out of it.

Now, here she was, gurney beside her held steady by one of her team, while they waited for the hatch of the small plane to open. When it did, it revealed Gabriel holding McCree’s limp body as best as he could. He descended the stairs at speeds Angela would have yelled at anyone else for using and carefully placed the half-dead body down.

“Two gunshot wounds to the chest, I think the pain knocked him out. GCS of three, but he’s still breathing on his own,” Gabriel told her as he did. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”

“Alright, let’s move,” she told her assistant, then nodded briefly at the commander to show she’d heard. 

The run to the operating room was fast, as fast as they could make it. Angela was pretty sure she would need to get scrubbed in, judging by the severity of the damage. Other than that, there was the look on Gabriel’s face- he was a very hard man to rattle. Angela shoved it from her mind, focusing on keeping McCree alive, but every so often it would pop back up, the pinched brow, the bitten bottom lip, the hopeless, terrified eyes.

She had to leave McCree for a short while to scrub in and when she returned, they were doing the final preparations to operate. Angela took a deep breath and pushed everything unrelated to her patient from her mind.

-

Gabriel Reyes was not a patient man. He was the kind of person who constantly needed to do something. It was partially SEP’s interference, but mostly just how Gabriel had always been. So being stuck in a tiny waiting room without any work to do and his second in command still in surgery? Not his kind of gig. Much better suited to, say Ana or Reinhardt. Someone with a big heart and more patience than desperation.

But neither Ana nor Reinhardt would be able to wait in his place, and so Gabriel was stuck here, pacing in measured lines until somebody arrived to tell him what happened or was happening to Jesse. Tell him whether or not he needed to notify next of kin. Bitterly, he knew he wouldn’t need to notify anyone. All Jesse’s blood relatives were dead. He’d asked about having Gabriel as his next of kin a few months, maybe a year ago and he hadn’t had the strength to say _no, I’m going to die before you will._

He was glad for his weakness now. Gabriel felt out of his mind with worry, and couldn’t even imagine how he would feel if he had to inform Jesse’s family of his death.

Gabriel’s despair was interrupted by the opening of a door. He whirled around automatically to find the source of the noise and found Angela, standing tiredly in the doorway. They locked eyes and she gave him tiny, weak smile, which didn’t mean much. Then, she spoke.

“He’s going to be okay, Gabriel,” Angela told him, and he could physically feel his body start to collapse with relief.

-

It was a strange thing to watch a man you had seen walk into your operating room with a leg so broken that the bone nearly pierced the skin practically fall into his chair at the news that his second in command was okay. Angela watched as Gabriel silently coached himself through breathing exercises, his hands forming a cradle around his mouth and nose.

Everyone knew that Gabriel and Jesse were close. They had never made any attempt to hide their amity from the rest of Overwatch. But watching as level-headed, good-man-for-a-crisis Gabriel Reyes broke down into legitimate, actual tears over him, Angela began to question just how close they really were.

“I’ll- You’ll be able to visit him during normal visiting hours tomorrow, if he wakes up,” Angela told him. Once he nodded, she left the room. Sometimes, people needed to work out their feelings on their own.

-

Jesse felt like his brain had been replaced by cotton balls and pain as he woke up. The world was bright but hazy, like when he’d put on Correa’s glasses that one time. He tried to sit up for about ten seconds before bailing. Holy _fuck_, did his ribs hurt.

“You’re awake,” came a familiar, relieved voice. Jesse blinked a few times, the world coming back into focus. He found Gabriel, sitting at his bedside. It was clear to him that he hadn’t slept for a while.

“Wha’ happened?” Jesse asked, his mouth not quite cooperating with him. He turned as best as he could with the IV lines in his arms.

He laughed mirthlessly. “You got yourself shot twice while using Deadeye, idiot. Punctured lung in two places and a broken rib. You’ve got the miracle of modern medicine to thank for the fact you’re still breathing.”

“Tha’ bad?”

Gabriel nodded solemnly. He closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face. When he spoke again, Jesse could hear the exhaustion in his voice. “I’m glad you’re still alive, Jess.”

One of his hands was resting on the edge of Jesse’s hospital bed. Gently, he placed one of his own on it.

“You sh’d prolly get s’me sleep,” he said after a long moment, the drugs exacerbating the natural slur of his accent. Gabriel laughed weakly.

“I probably should. You probably should too, judging by the amount of irregular blinking that you’re doing,” he said, squeezing Jesse’s hand softly.

A movement by the door caught his eye and he swivelled to see Angela, closing the door behind her. “H’llo, N’gela”

She smiled. “It’s good to see you’re awake, Jesse.”

-

When Angela got the little notification that Jesse had woken up, she was in her office, filing paperwork. It was one of the inescapable aspects of being the head of anything, let alone the head of Overwatch’s medical department. She was more than happy to go check up on McCree instead of mindlessly staring at her screen.

The walk down to his room was quick. She glanced into the window of the door for a moment, about to go in, before she saw that Gabriel was still at his bedside. Angela froze, her hand still on the doorknob. Jesse said something, his eyebrows knit together. His commander nodded, looking exhausted, and she wondered whether she needed to have a talk with him about his sleeping habits. He looked terrible. Gabriel said something else, and then Jesse, uncharacteristically delicately, placed a hand over Gabriel’s own.

Angela should not have been watching this exchange. Her job was to take care of her patients, not to spy on them. But still, she felt frozen, eyes glued to the pair, watching the surprisingly tender interaction. Unbidden, her question from a few days earlier floated back to her. Were they really only friends? Somehow, Angela doubted it.

_That’s not your place to question_, she reminded herself firmly, forcing herself to turn the handle and step into the room. Jesse spotted her first, unusually.

“H’llo, N’gela,” he slurred. At least she knew the painkillers were having an effect, she thought, smiling.

“It’s good to see you’re awake Jesse,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

“’S cer’nly int’restin’, tha’s fer sure,” he said good-naturedly.

Gabriel stood and turned to Jesse. “I’ll let you talk to the doctor alone, then.”

“Y’c’n stay ‘f ya want,” Jesse attempted to protest, clumsily grabbing his sleeve. Angela made a mental note to adjust what he was taking, at least during the day. She determinedly did not think about how it was unusual to have anyone outside of family present while discussing care like this.

“I- okay,” Gabriel said, and sat back down. Jesse relinquished his hold on his shirt.

“Alright then,” Angela said, and began to talk Jesse through his injuries.

-

Throughout the course of Jesse’s stay in Overwatch’s medical facilities, Angela noticed… things. Things like how Gabriel seemed to more or less live in Jesse’s room during visiting hours, how they seemed to just live together in general, how she had once walked in to Jesse talking about Gabriel in his sleep. Things like how Jesse looked so fondly at Gabriel, even when he was just working, how Gabriel was firm but caring when he told Jesse to just let his ribs heal.

It was driving her a bit crazy, trying to work out what was going on between the two of them. Were they truly just very close friends? It wasn’t impossible. Angela had even seen first-hand how close two people who fought side-by-side could become without ever being romantically entangled. But on the other hand, those relationships typically didn’t involve the sheer amount of flirting that Jesse seemed determined to use on the commander. It was a dilemma.

Angela was fully aware that this wasn’t entirely in her jurisdiction. She didn’t need to know whether or not the two were in a relationship to treat Jesse, as long as they weren’t being sexually active while Jesse was still healing. But she couldn’t deny that her curiosity had been piqued.

Her decisive evidence came the day before Jesse was due to be out of her care. Angela had just been doing her job- talking to Jesse about what he would need to do once he was back in his own room, or Gabriel’s or wherever, giving him the dos and don’ts. Standard procedure.

She opened the door carefully when she saw that the lights were off, and stepped softly into the room. It was dimly illuminated only by the light from the hall and the sliver of light coming out under the edges of the blind-covered window. Even so, it was enough for Angela to see the two figures entangled in the bed clearly.

They were only sleeping. She could see the steady rise and fall of Jesse’s chest, and how their limbs were naturally placed. Nonetheless, Angela could feel the intimacy in the scene; Gabriel’s arm had snaked across Jesse’s chest protectively, his face nestled into Jesse’s shoulder. He in turn had turned his head so that it faced Gabriel. She thought it likely that they had fallen asleep mid-conversation, based on their positions.

Their closeness was such that Angela felt like she had intruded on something not meant for anyone else. They were just sleeping, yes, but it seemed so tender that she quietly retreated, closing the door behind her and leaving the pair to be.


	5. a hotel clerk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is a week late, I ended up rewriting it twice! TT-TT Regardless, it should be much better now, even if it's largely unedited.

At first, the pair of men who came up to the reception desk looked like anyone else coming up to rent a semi-decent room. Of course, they were entering the hotel at the ungodly hour of three am, but all that really meant was that Erik’s brain had turned partly into static fuzz. Le Château Des Trois Reines was a strange place at the best of times, and this certainly wasn’t one of them.

He blinked a couple of times when he was them coming, willing his vision to come back into focus. The pair were about the same height, well dressed, and caught up in quiet conversation. Both of them had large roll away luggage, and Erik pitied whichever airline they’d flown with.

“Hello, do you have a reservation?” Up close, it was easy to see the way that the man with reddy-brown hair startled in surprise when he spoke, and how the more elegant of the pair placed a steadying hand on the small of his partner’s back.

“Yes,” said the elegant one smoothly. “It should be under Moreno.”

Quickly, he typed up the name and found one result. “Oscar?”

“That’s me.”

“You’ll be in five sixty-four then. Are you aware that you’re staying in a single?” Erik didn’t want to assume. God knew that the number of bureaucratic paperwork fuckups that happened here was astronomical.

“I’m aware. Room keys, please?” Oscar held out one hand and he handed over the two plastic cards.

Okay, then. Erik was the last person who was going to judge- he wasn’t afraid to admit to himself that his childhood “admiration” of Jack Morrison was in no way platonic- but it probably wasn’t the best idea to be so open here. If they were together, anyway. “Checkout time is noon, the wifi password should be in your room. If not, please come back down here and I’ll get it for you, okay?”

“Of course,” said the other one. He had a slight accent to his french, but Erik didn’t know exactly where he was from.

With that, the pair turned away and resumed their nearly inaudible conversation, and Erik turned back to pretending to be working.

-

“He was totally givin’ you doe eyes,” Jesse said as soon as they were out of earshot, on their way to the elevators. “All I’m sayin’ is that if you want to “lose” the wifi password… Well, I wouldn’t blame ya.”

“In case you didn’t hear him, the room we’re sharing has one bed. Unless we decide to ask for new sheets- which we are _not_ doing, Jesse, get that look off your face- that’s going to be some pretty uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.” Gabriel was, as always, perfectly composed despite the subject matter. “And besides, we have actual work to do. And if we’d like to get the budget to not need to share a bed next year, we’d better do a good job.”

“Let’s face it, we’re gonna end up sharing a bed no matter what we do,” Jesse said. “If not because we never get funded for _that_ luxury, then because that’s just how we are.”

And it was true; even when they weren’t on a mission, Jesse now held a definitive place in Reyes’ bed. He had a drawer in his room, and his own room was more of a formality and a place to bring a pretty stranger back to when the situation called for it. When they were on missions, it was a foregone conclusion. Gabriel stayed with Jesse, for watches, for rooms, and yes, for beds.

Jesse would be lying big time if he said he didn’t love that fact, just a little.

“Well, I’d like to at least maintain the illusion that it’s going to happen sometime, so we need to hop to it.” He hit the up button as he spoke, and then stepped back next to Jesse. “I’ll contact the other team, you’ll set up, and we’ll get some sleep before tomorrow, okay?”

“Yep, I got that. Damn, I can’t wait to hit that bed.”

-

Seeing the Morenos two weeks later during their checkout damn near gave Erik an aneurism.

He hadn’t forgotten about them yet, so when they strolled leisurely up to the reception desk, he recognized Oscar at once. The second thing he recognized was that they had pretty clearly been up to… things. Things that had ended with Oscar’s boyfriend’s shirt buttoned incorrectly, his hair in disarray, and Oscar’s previously pristinely knotted and straightened tie hanging open around his neck. To further the image, there was a distinct energy between the couple, only strengthened with every sly, victorious glance.

It was more than a little surprising to see the evidence of sex on two men at seven in the morning, but Erik would really rather just get this whole exchange over with than think about it. “Checking out, gentlemen?”

The unnamed boyfriend laughed a little when he said gentlemen. Oscar, however, only smiled indulgently.

“Yes, we are.” One hand came up to brush at his collar, and Erik hoped that he wasn’t blushing too hard; there were a very distinct set of bruises around his neck. “Here are the cards.”

“Will you be needing us to call you a taxi to the airport now?” he said, letting the customer service script take over.

“No, thank you. We’ll be fine on our own.” With that, Oscar shot a small look at his boyfriend, who smirked in response.

“Alright, I hope that you’ve enjoyed your stay at the Château and that we’ll be seeing you again soon. Have a nice day!”

“You too,” said the boyfriend, who promptly placed a hand on Oscar’s elbow and led him away. Erik didn’t watch the pair for long, other customers taking his attention, but the last thing he did see was Oscar, bursting into laughter.

-

Walking down to the reception desk was made more difficult by the fact that Gabriel felt as though every muscle in his back had been pounded with a marble rolling pin, but the feeling of triumph was worth it. After nine months of meticulous planning and recon and close calls, the hit against the latest ring of human- and omnic, this time- traffickers had gone off almost without a hitch. Considering that hitch had been as overall insignificant as him getting a little asphyxiated, Gabriel counted it as a total win.

Despite his earlier concern, Jesse too was celebrating. Gabriel could see it in the little glances that they shared, turning their sleep deprived euphoria into a folie à deux. Between the two of them, Jesse was probably a little worse for wear, having been awake as long as Gabriel had without the benefit of SEP to get him through it.

And now, it was at last time to return to the base and get some extra sleep until the next case came up or debrief was necessary, whichever came first. Gabriel was looking forward to whatever sleep he could get, and he was sure that their other team members would be as well.

The same clerk as when they had checked was at the reception desk again. They strolled up casually to his desk, in no hurry to get out.

“Checking out, gentlemen?” asked the clerk- Erik, his name tag read- who typed something into his computer.

Jesse laughed a little at the idea of them as gentlemen, and Gabriel couldn’t help a small smile either. Regardless, he pushed on. “Yes, we are.”

He fished around in his pocket for a minute, and in doing so managed to tweak his neck a little. Instinctively, he brought up a hand to rub at it and tried not to wince. The trafficker who’d got him up against the wall had been strong, and while he’d only been strangled for a few moments, it had left some nasty bruising.

“Here are the cards.” Gabriel slid them onto the desk. During the time it had taken him to find them, Erik had turned considerably redder- maybe Jesse hadn’t been completely wrong about him after all.

“Will you be needing us to call you a taxi to the airport now?” the clerk asked politely, but it was clear that he wasn’t really all there.

“No, thank you. We’ll be fine on our own.” He glanced over at Jesse as he spoke, who smirked. There might be terrible working conditions and imminent risk of death at most times, but at least you got to travel for free most of the time.

“Alright, I hope that you’ve enjoyed your stay at the Château and that we’ll be seeing you again soon. Have a nice day!”

“You too,” Jesse grinned mischievously and swept Gabriel away by the elbow. They were only a few steps away when he turned his head to face Gabriel. “He was so into you.”

He snorted. “If you say so. It doesn’t matter much to me either way.”

“So you’re sayin’ you wouldn’t tap that?” Jesse asked teasingly.

Gabriel laughed out loud at that. “I said no such thing. My problem with him is that anything keeping me from my beauty sleep when I hit a bed is going to get punched.”

“Alright, that’s fair enough,” Jesse conceded as he stepped towards the blue rental car their squadmates were in. “We’d better get you home then.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel said, almost inaudibly. “We’d better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! I might someday come back and make this a proper 5+1, but I don't currently have plans to do so and it's almost certainly not going to be out next week. I do have plans to start posting a new fic next Sunday, assuming I can get the damn thing edited, but we'll see. Until next time!


End file.
